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The Importance Of An Ice Sheet In Antarctica

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The Importance Of An Ice Sheet In Antarctica
Antarctica consists of mostly frozen ice particles and may very well vary huge chunks of ice burgs. Sea ice keeps the Polar Regions levelheaded and helps adequate global climate. Sea ice has a bright surface; that contains eighty percent of the sunlight that strikes it is revealed back into space. As sea ice melts in the summer, it exposes the dark ocean surface. Instead of reflecting eighty percent of the sunlight, the ocean only absorbs ninety percent of the sunlight. The oceans eventually heat up, and the temperatures rise further. An ice sheet contains massive quantities of frozen water. The two ice sheets on Earth today cover most of Greenland and Antarctica. Ice sheets are made up of layers of snow and ice that collected over millions of years. If the Greenland Ice Sheet melted, scientists assume to estimate that sea level would rise about six meters (20 feet). For instance, if the Antarctic ice sheet melted, sea level would rise by about sixty meters (200 feet). …show more content…

This means that a period of colder global temperatures that features frequent glacial expansion across the Earth’s surface. Capable of it lasting for hundreds of millions of years, these periods are interspersed with steady warmer interglacial intervals in which at least one major ice sheet is existent. Earth is currently in the midst of an ice age, as the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets remain intact despite moderate temperatures. Humans to are responsible for the melting of the ice because of the burning of the huge amounts of fossil fuels. The fossil fuel discharges lots of co2 and that ultimately generates a lot of heat, which means the increase of heat therefore leading to increase of melting of the ice

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